Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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the fifth quarter lou somogyi "We lined up in the same formation 11 times on the last drive," Kelly noted. "They knew exactly what we were doing — and we had the ball for [the final] 7:22, so it's still about execution. "Those are good sound bites and all, but we know what our tendencies are. We have self-scouting information from our graduate assistants at our fingertips first thing when we get in Sunday. … Generally speaking, bye weeks are where we do a more thorough evaluation of those things." The second predictable response after disappointment is even more common: "In all my (20, 30, 40, 50 …) years of following Notre Dame, I have never seen such …" From there, fill in the flavor of the week: questionable coaching, inability to move the ball, poor discipline, lack of intensity, absence of fundamentals, etc. To that my simple reply is, "Oh, I'm sure you have." Like anyone else, I can romanticize the past ("the older I get, the better I was"), and it's human nature to do so. A recent press release announcing the death of the great Frank Tripucka mistakenly listed that he threw zero interceptions as the starter during Notre Dame's 1948 unbeaten season. Upon further review, he actually had 11 in just 91 attempts. My first thought was, "I wonder how people would react today if Tommy Rees had 11 interceptions in 91 attempts?" You've never seen an Irish quarterback turn it over more than Rees? Oh, sure you might have, or did. In 1967, All-American Terry Hanratty had one stretch where he tossed 13 interceptions in 113 attempts. He threw five in 23 tries one week versus USC and four in 17 tries the next against Illinois (that's nine interceptions in 40 tosses). I can cite almost as equally unimpressive data for icons such as Joe Theismann, Joe Montana, Tony Rice and even Jimmy Clausen. You've never seen so many stars on a defensive line be so unproductive than this year? Oh, sure you might have. The 1975 line featured first-rounders Ross Browner and Steve Niehaus, secondrounder Willie Fry, NFL player Jeff Weston … but they still gave up 303 yards rushing to Tony Dorsett in a 34-20 loss at Pitt. I've seen an unbeaten Notre Dame team lose at home to one that was 1-9 the year prior and had just come off a 62-0 loss (Missouri, 1972). I saw a 9-1 Irish team ranked No. 1 on defense yield 55 points in less than 17 minutes (USC, 1974), or blow a 31-7 lead at home (Tennessee, 1991). I fumed and flung furniture when head coach Dan Devine (1975-80) called predictable plays … but applauded when his statue was unveiled at Notre Dame a couple of years ago. I've seen a 58-7 loss (1985 at Miami), and I've seen a 1-9 start (2007). Never say never, because you never know when it will get worse or better. That's part of the intrigue, and predictability, of each new season. ✦ Senior Editor Lou Somogyi has been at Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 1985. He can be reached at lsomogyi@blueandgold.com